Elsie Fischer

Elsie was born in 1898 in the town of Izmiruy, a tightknit community in the rocky region just south of the capital, Central City. The mountainous region is rich with minerals, making Izmiruy one of the best suppliers of ore for all of Amestris. Because of this, the community, while small, is quite rich and flourishing, filled with inventors, entrepreneurs, businessmen, and the like. Their father is one such man, who is something of an inventor and holds many patents for many everyday devises in Amestris. He is a learned, studious man who always put a large emphasis on schooling when it came to his children, and each of his children were practically prodigies at very young ages. Their mother had a love for flowers and spent much of her time gardening. They were all very happy.. until the storm came.

The storm was a massive monster that brought with it a deluge the likes of which had never been witnessed in Amestris before. Towns were flooded, landslides cut off trade routes as the storm moved across the span of the whole country. Despite not getting hit nearly as hard as some of the more southern towns, Izmiruy was no expection to the wrath of mother nature. Gentle brooks were soon swollen as the runoff from the mountains reached the small town, but life went on. The night after the big storm, Elsie decided to walk to a friend's house, not knowing that her little brother had decided to follow her. The river she normally crossed was flooded, but Elsie managed to hop across on some rocks. Klaus, however.. was not able to follow his sister's path, and fell into the river. Elsie didn't know that he'd followed her, so when she came home that evening, she came home to absolute chaos. People had gathered to look for Elsie, who they'd thought had been swept away by the river as well; they were relieved to see that she was alright! Her parents, though.. were not.

Her parents didn't even bother trying to hide their resentment for Elsie; they blamed her for Klaus' death openly and unapologetically. How could she not have known that he followed her? Klaus practically followed his big sister everywhere, so why hadn't she thought to check? In their eyes, Elsie killed Klaus, herself. In their grief and blind anger, they became cold.. physically and emotionally abusive with their two remaining daughters, but especially with Elsie, who did what she could to make up for what she believed was her fault. Celestine was a great comfort in those days; no matter what, they at least had each other. And.. Elsie would never allow anything to happen to Celestine. In the daytime, they did their chores, studied, and kept their heads low. By night, Elsie began to research something called.. alchemy. .

Alone, in pain and shock, Elsie stumbled way from her home and into the unknown, inevitably passing out on the side of the road, and not very far from death. A boy her age found her and brought her back home to his grandfather, a kind doctor who took her in and treated her; he didn't know what'd happened to the poor girl, but he worked tirelessly to nurse her back to health. It was this doctor that informed Elsie, when she awoke, that her heartbeat was irregular. He thought she was born with a hole in her heart, but he didn't know the truth of what she had done. He warned her that this sort of injury was very serious, and she needed to be careful; it could very well kill her. It might, anyway, even if she was careful. It certainly would shorten her lift drastically if left unchecked.

Ashamed, fearful, and unsure of this man, Elsie refused his offer when he told her that she could stay with him, if she didn't have anywhere else to go. Despite being disheartened by her refusal, there wasn't much he could do; it wasn't like he could keep her against her will, after all. So.. the doctor gave her a book. Since she seemed to be quite the little alchemist, the doctor gifted her a book on the pratical and medicinal uses of botanial alchemy, saying that she would probably get more use out of it than he would. He hoped that it would help her survive out there on her own, and, if nothing else, she might come back one day a master and could teach him a thing or two! Although suspicious of this gift, Elsie accepted it, thanked him for helping her, and set off on her own.. and that book became Elsie's one saving grace.

In no time, Elsie read that book front to back, and then front to back again, soaking up the information like a little sponge. Before long, Elsie was practically a master; it helped that she already knew some of what the book taught, since her mother was big on gardening in the past. Beyond knowledgeable, though, Elsie was passionate about it. When she was sick, she would gather herbs and concoct her own medicines, and sometimes sell tinctures she made for a little money. Enough to eat, maybe.. sometimes enough to sleep in a warm bed. Mostly, though, Elsie saved what money she could.. for Celestine.

See, Elsie wasn't supposed to go home, but she worried for her little sister. Often times, Elsie wasn't very far from home at all, camping out nearby and checking in on Celestine, even if it was just to watch her leave the house and walk to school. Celestine was a smart girl, though, and caught on pretty quickly. Celestine didn't blame Elsie for what had happened at all; in fact, she was just happy to see her big sister! The two would write letters in secret and sometimes meet up in the middle of the night, where Elsie would bring little gifts every so often. It wasn't much, but being able to connect with Celestine was everything to Elsie.. until their parents found out what they'd been doing. Celestine was given an ultimatum; stay home and refuse all contact with Elsie, or face the same fate and be ousted from home, and Celestine.. well, she chose her sister. Now, they set out together to try and make a life for themselves.

For Elsie, though, it was a race against the clock; she was only 16, and already she could tell that her heart was beginning to grow weak. She would wake to her heart racing, aching in her chest like it was going to give out, and nothing seemed to help it. She grew dizzy, breathless, and couldn't walk very large distances without nearly passing out. If she pushed herself too hard, she would cough up blood, just like she did that night when she opened the Gate of Truth. But Elsie had to work.. she needed to provide for her and Celestine. Just long enough.. she needed to hold on for just long enough, until Celestine didn't need her anymore. Hopefully, hopefully.. she could make it long enough.